Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Eye movements during decision making show systematic patterns such as increased fixations to the chosen option (i.e.gaze cascades) and multiple gaze transitions between fixated options. Existing formalisms, such as multivariate decisionfield theory, only provide limited scope for describing multiple reversals in the attentional focus and it is therefore unclearhow they can be applied to the underlying attentional dynamics. Here, we present an open systems dynamical model fromquantum theory to describe gaze transitions between choice options and the gaze cascade effect. Our model was tested ona decision task, in which participants repeatedly decided among two complex options (i.e. that lacked easily quantifiable,matched characteristics). The model can describe the gaze patterns on the individual trial level. It reveals structure inthe gaze dynamics that is predictive for choice behavior. The explanatory value of this account for studying attentionaldynamics during decision making will be discussed.